Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hillary Clinton fully deploys hawk wings

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is a hawk. As the spokeswoman of America's foreign affairs she now ranks as a leading hard liner. GuamDiary has called her on her questionable policy of disturbing the peace by opting for military solutions. GuamDiary has long commented on her campaign against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North] in the sunken ROK [Republic of Korea aka South Korea] corvette the 'Cheonan'.She and the US South Korean client and ally under the leadership of Lee Myung bek display fear and anatognism and self justification characteristic of stagnant and declining authority. Her grasp of foreign policy betrays no ambiguity or intense groping. She exhibits no confusion.During her visit to Vietnam where she participated in a regional security meeting, she didn't hesitate to lecture her Vietnamese hosts on the lessons of democracy: freedom of speech and of religion. Ouch! And this from a foreign minister of a country which waged a brutal undeclared war against Vietnam! She went one step further by chastising the Chinese on their territorial claims on the Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea which Vietnam also claims sovereignty. Within the waters of these islands are vast, untapped reserves of natural gas. China has occupied some islands and have threatened Vietnam's pretensions to ownership with military action. The issue remains unresolved and a source of tension between the two countries.China considers the South China Sea as its 'mare nostrum', its own private reserve. The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia however do not share this opinion, since each state has a claim to its real estate.Mme. Clinton's remarks at the regional security counselling China and Vietnam to find common ground in settling this territorial dispute amicably through negotiations, caught the Chinese off guard.And Beijing has subsequently protested her remarks. Mme. Clinton's sally into what China may consider its internal affairs, is partly an ongoing jab between Washington and Beijing over trade, monetary, and military matters and partly the US' retaliation against China for refusing to follow its lead in condemning the DPRK in the sinking of the 'Cheonan', and for taking US foreign policy up short. [Mme. Clinton may feign innoncence but she was duly informed during a trip to China that it wouldn't go along with more sanctions against nor a condemnation of North Korea.]Mme. Clinton is tough as old leather. She gives as good as she gets, and give she did in Hanoi.Of course hard as nails as she is, she cannot escape the burn and temper against America's wars in Iran and Afghanisation; its byzantine dealings with Pakistan; its hypocritical role in the overthrow of the Zalaya government in Hondorus, for example.Her predecessors John Foster Dulles and Dean Rusk would hardly blush at the way Mme. Clinton is pursuing the aims of US foreign policy. She sees the world as though the sun was at its high point at noon without shadows and without nuance.Mme. Clinton's fame precedes her and it allows her to initially get away with a lot of mischief. Everyone or almost everyone is eager to share a photo op with her. As a woman and the wife of a former president and one who cast her hat into the 2008 presidential ring, she is ridding of a crest of her achievements. They cast a fog over the give no quarter policies she pursues as foreign minister, and this obscurity allows her to get easily to offer little or no apologies. Bold as brass, she brooks no resistance in spite of subterrean influences which are challenging American diplomatic initiatives. Mme. Clinton embodies the spirit of the US symbol of the bald eagle...in her own way as secretary of state she bears a resemblance to a bird of prey.